A Stop in Oxford

Written by Wisconsin Lutheran College student Ayla, who is studying in the United Kingdom with WLC classmates and Dr. Martin Moldenhauer, Associate Professor of English.

Today we took our normal trains under and above ground to get to Paddington station where we caught a train to Oxford! If you have ever been to Madison and know what a university town it is, you can understand what the town around Oxford University is like. There are students riding around on their bikes and tons of restaurants and bookshops. When we got to the university, we stopped at the Eagle and Child where J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis had meetings with the Inklings, a group of men who had discussions on ideas and other similar topics. It was a lovely lunch and Dr. M. made great friends with our waiter, Andrea.

From there we went to a few shops and many of us bought Oxford memorabilia. Most bought T-shirts and sweatshirts. We did not pay for a semester or year tuition at Oxford, but we all learned at Christ Church college in Oxford, thanks to a tour and information from our leaders. We toured the Christ Church of Oxford after a short stroll through some beautiful gardens. Christ Church is the largest part of Oxford University. We learned many interesting facts pertaining to Christ Church Oxford. One fact being that the dining room for the Harry Potter books and films was based off of the great hall at Christ Church Oxford. There was also some filming done at Christ Church Oxford by the stairs to the dining hall. Many other characteristics about Hogwarts were based off of Christ Church Oxford. We learned that Henry VIII funded some of Christ Church Oxford.

Two of the authors of focus today were already mentioned, but Lewis Carroll was left out. His real name is Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. His portrait is hanging in the hall along with many others. There is also a picture of Henry VIII hanging in front of the dining hall. It is interesting that all of the three authors that we learned more about the night before impacted Christ Church college in Oxford and several countries with their writings. Interestingly, Lewis Carroll/Dodgson was a mathematical professor at Christ Church even though he is known for his children’s writing of both prose and poetry. In addition to all of them having a connection at Christ Church, they all lived their faith out in their daily lives. J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis are known for their very in-depth novels and some argue that there are Christian elements in both of their stories. Arguably, C. S. Lewis wrote more Christian inspired works of fiction, like his Chronicles of Narnia series. There was a huge amount of information which was learned about the three authors and their common connection to their faith and Christ Church college in Oxford.